Improvement in fire-proof shutters



SHEPHERD FALES, OF ST. JOSEPH, MISSOURI.

IMPROVEMENT IN FIRE-PROOF SHUTTERS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 162,811, dated May 4,1875 application filed November 25, 1874.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, SHEPHERD FALES, of

the city of St. Joseph, in the county of Buchanan, in the State ofMissouri, have originated and invented a Fire-Proof Shutter, suitablefor any and all windows, doors, and other openings, with an outside camthereon for the purpose of opening said shutter from the outside, ofwhich the following is a full, clear, and exact description, referencebeing had to the accompanying drawings, making part of thisspecification, to wit:

Figure l is a front view of my improved shutter. Fig. 2 is a horizontalsection of the same.

This invention has relation to improvements in window-shutters.

The object of the invention is, first, to construct a window-shutter,such that the interior of the building will be effectually preventedfrom taking fire from a burning building adjoining. To this end thenature of the invention consists in combining with a corrugated sheetmetal window shutter, fitting snugly over the exterior face of awindowframe, an interior double-Walled box filled with a suitablenon-conducting substance, adapted to be snugly received inside of thesaid frame, and provided with a ventilating air-chamber, formed betweenthe corrugated shutter and the interior box filled with a nonconductor,and the latter-is protected from the intense heat of a neighboringburning building.

In the annexed drawings, A B designate two wings of a window-shutter,hinged in the usual well-known manner to the. wall .of a building, andadapted to fold inward upon each other to close a window, as shown inFig. 1. These blinds are of any corrugated sheet metal, though inpractice I shall prefer to use iron, either galvanized or not, and theyare each provided with a number of notches,

G, at their tops and bottoms, for a purpose hereinafter explained. Hdesignate preferably metallic boxes rigidly secured to shutters A B,which boxes are filled with asbestus, or any other suitablenon-conducting filling, and are adapted to fill up the window-frame whenthe said shutters are closed. By this means an air-chamber, 'i, isformed between the shutters A B and fire-proof boxes H, through whichair will have uninterrupted circulation, thus preventing dampness andoxidation.

In the event of a fire in close proximity thereto this chamber willprevent the boxes H from becoming unduly heated, the constal'itcirculation from below upward through chambers z" and notches G of freshair serving as an efiectual preventive therefrom. By this means, also,the interior of the building is prevented from catching fire or beingscorched from the intense heat of the outer iron shutters-an event of noinfrequent occurrence where flames arecarried by the force of the windacross a narrow street or alley in direct contact therewith.

This arrangement of an outer door and an inner box filled with asbestusor other nonconducting filling may be used in connection with theentrances to a building with equally satisfactory results for thepurpose of pro tecting them from incendiaries or accidentally catchingfire.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

A corrugated metal shutter or door provided with air-passages G, incombination with the air-ventilating chamber 1' and box H, filled with anon-conductor of heat, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

SHEPHERD FALES.

Witnesses:

MURAT MASTERSON, CHAS. L. SIMMONS.

